By Howard Fischer | Capitol Media Services | Arizona Daily Star
A veteran legislator wants to allow people to practice law in Arizona with less classroom training than now required to cut hair.
The proposal by Sen. Rick Murphy would eliminate the existing requirement for a degree from an accredited law school as a precursor. Instead, SCR 1018 says anyone who could pass the bar exam – the same test law school graduates have to take – would get the same privilege to take on clients, prepare legal briefs and argue civil and criminal cases in court.
Murphy said too much is made of law degrees.
“There are lots of folks who go to law school and then have no idea how to successfully practice law,” the Glendale Republican said. “I hired some of those people,” added Murphy, who has been a real estate agent and business consultant. “So I ought to know.”
He noted the state requires someone to pass the test even after graduating from law school.
“Either the test is a meaningful measure of your aptitude to practice law, or it’s not,” he said.
Murphy acknowledged that lawmakers have mandated 1,300 hours of classroom training to cut hair and 1,600 hours to get a cosmetology license. But he said the comparison is invalid.
Statement by Rose Law Group founder Jordan Rose: “I wouldn’t want to go to a doctor who just passed the test and skipped med school and I think a person who passes a law school exam without the benefit of legal training would not have any idea how to help the public as a lawyer.”
